Guardian Glass is installing a jumbo coater in North America to serve its North America commercial glass customers. The investment was approved by the Guardian Industries Corp. Board of Directors.

Architects are increasingly designing projects with larger glass sizes. Adding the ability to coat jumbo-sized glass means Guardian can supply bigger sheets of coated glass to its customers for fabrication into finished sizes for glass facades and windows. This supports the architectural trend to more expansive views and higher daylight penetration in buildings with the world-class energy savings of the Guardian SunGuard® portfolio of high performance, low-E coatings.

For U.S. projects such as the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University - one of the first Zaha Hadid-designed buildings in America - Guardian supplied jumbo-sized coated glass from one of its plants in Europe, which has had this capability for some time. “The new coater will allow us to deliver jumbo-sized glass to our North American customers with significantly reduced lead times,” explains Chris Dolan, Director of Marketing, Guardian Glass North America.

“We are very pleased to hear that Guardian will soon be introducing jumbo-sized coated glass capability in the U.S.,” says Sameer Kumar, AIA, LEED AP, Director, Enclosure Design, SHoP Architects. “The need for jumbo-sized glass cannot be overstated and, as a result of Guardian’s initiative, designers will no longer have to rely on overseas suppliers to meet the needs of our domestic projects. This positive development means greater flexibility and a wider material palette to choose from, which we welcome.”

“The new jumbo coater will also create value for Guardian customersby increasing their product offerings, and allowing them to reduce inventory and waste,” adds Rick Zoulek, Vice President, Americas, Guardian Glass. “Ultimately, increasing capabilities in the commercial segment with these jumbos supports our customers throughout the design and supply chains.”